Rebekah Deon Hawks
August 19th, 2014 11:36 am
8 lbs 5 oz
20 1/4 in
Th morning of the 19th we were scheduled for an induction- long story short I wanted to make sure we were home in time for Nathan to start school the following Monday, so my doctor agreed to induce a few days before our due date on the 22nd. (I need 4 hours of medication before the baby is born so with my history of quick labors my doctor prefers to induce me). I had been nervous in the weeks preceding because my body wasn't showing much signs of being ready to go into labor, and something had to happen or else my doctor wouldn't induce- thankfully I went in on the 18th and was 1 cm dilated- that meant we were good to go for the 19th! That morning I woke up at 4, checked to make sure there was space in the hospital, and we were there for our appointed time of 6 am.
After a quick visit from the doctor they started hooking up monitors and getting the everything ready to start the medicine and pitocin. I hadn't had a single contraction the entire pregnancy (completely normal for me to not feel anything till actually in labor), but as we were waiting to get started I started to feel contractions around 7 am- turns out I started labor on my own! They started the meds and the contractions kept getting stronger, so by 9 I had my epidural--which was AMAZING--gosh I love epidurals!!
The doctor didn't want anyone to check me till he came back around lunch time (to not speed up labor), so with the timing we were planning on having the baby around 2:00. I had started to feel some pressure around 11 but dismissed it because it wasn't very consistent (and I wasn't supposed to deliver till around 2 right?) Chris decided around 11:20 that he should go grab some lunch before the doctor came back and broke my water (I progress really fast after that), so he headed out. Just a few minutes later my water broke- and I panicked. Just moments later Chris walked back in because he'd forgotten his work badge (to get a discount on his lunch); I frantically pushed the nurses call button while he assured me that plenty of women have their water break and I shouldn't be freaking out, but I started feeling a lot more pressure, and about 1 minute later a nurse walked in, Chris told her what happened, and she started to change the sheets all calmly- that's when she noticed that the baby was crowning! She ran out and yelled for help and nurses and people rushed in- thankfully they had almost everything set up for the baby already and she kept asking me to relax- I wasn't pushing at all but the baby just kept coming. One minute later she asked me to push and one small, half-hearted push later our baby was born and in my arms.
Holding her was magical- her birth was so easy and I was really calm in the last 2 minutes of it- Chris and I just kept saying to each other "this is crazy!" and "I can't believe this is happening right now!" I had to remind Chris to get the camera because things we happening so quickly.
A few minutes later a resident from the hospital made it in, and about 20 minutes later the doctor arrived- I love Dr Pinell and he was so sad to miss the birth, but I think a nurse helping another patient down the hall missed the birth too so we'll forgive him for not getting to the hospital in time :)
We still hadn't picked out a name yet, but we'd talked about Rebekah as a possibility. Both Chris and I knew when she was born that she was our Rebekah, but we waited to tell anyone till the kids arrived after their nap-time.
Bekah was absolutely perfect. She was crying within about 2 seconds of birth and I remember thinking it was such a strong, loud cry for a newborn! Because she was born so quickly she still had a little bit of stuff in her lungs but with her strong set of lungs she did great clearing it all out.
Bekah's birth is full of little miracles- I am so grateful that we were admitted to the hospital that morning to be induced. If we had started labor at home Bekah definitely wouldn't have gotten the medications she needed to be born safely. I may not have made it to the hospital in time for an epidural (or honestly the birth! I tend to stay at home for a couple hours showering and doing random last minute things), Chris would have been in surgery and would have been harder to get a hold of. We were also put in a room right next to the nurses station which allowed for everyone to help quickly and get things ready for Bekah's arrival with only a moments notice. Chris forgot his ID badge and made it back to the room before Bekah's birth- even if I had called him immediately after my water broke to get back he probably would have missed the birth. Thankfully, Bekah and I were completely healthy and there were no complications, so having no doctor there was okay.
After the kids naps they came to the hospital with my Mom- seeing them was such a fun experience! They have all been so excited to meet our baby and were thrilled to learn her name. They each wanted to hold her so we had to keep passing Bekah around and taking turns, but seeing them all together definitely made me cry- I seriously love my family.
We are so happy to have Rebekah here- I wish I could find the words to describe how much we love her and much joy she has already brought to our family. She is definitely one loved little girl.
